Larry Eisenberg - Kum Ba Yah

Topic: Kumbaya 1955-1961
In early 1957, Lynn Rohrbough was still in close touch with men who had supported his Cooperative Song Service (CRS) in the 1940s.  In January, Larry Eisenberg wrote him to say he was planning “to stay over after the ACA meeting, and will be happy to come out to the Rohrboughs on Saturday afternoon.” [1]

The two men met in 1936, when the twenty-year-old Eisenberg went to the National Conference of Methodist Youth in Berea, Kentucky. [2]  They became colleagues in the 1940s when Eisenberg was working for the denomination’s Youth Department in Nashville, Tennessee. [3]

Eisenberg left the department in 1952, and had been spending the interim years writing books on recreation that were published by the YMCA [4] and teaching social recreation to missionaries at Scarritt College. [5]  He had just begun working as a pastor in southwestern Virginia in late 1957. [6]

One event where he worked was an experiment in race relations sponsored by the Presbyterian and Congregational churches [7] at Davidson College in North Carolina.  Students from Black colleges, like Talladega, were given an opportunity to visit white schools where, it was hoped, the two groups would meet socially [8] and thus overcome some of the barriers in the South where only 15% of the whites believed in integrated schools. [9]

In addition to Eisenberg, Pete Seeger was invited to perform.  This event must have been reported in the local and school newspapers, but I have found nothing posted to the web.  This description is based on the memories of Eisenberg and Seeger.

One reason it would have been reported was its notoriety.  Davidson had become a textile mill town in 1890 [10] that attracted displaced white farmers. [11]  When the college finally agreed to enroll students from the Congo in 1962, five local business announced they would not serve them. [12]  Eisenberg had been told “the town even has vigilantes.”  He added, “so far as I know, nothing happened.” [13]

Seeger remembered that “a Methodist minister and recreation leader, Rev. Larry Eisenberg introduced the song in North Carolina.” [14]

Eisenberg probably learned “Kumbaya” from the Song Sampler, or some other CRS publication sent to him by Rohrbough. [15]  At that time, the heading still claimed it came from “Africa (Angola).”  He may have mentioned this in his introduction.  Seeger wrote that, “within a couple of years” of being published by CRS, “it was being sung in the USA as ‘an African song’.” [16]

Seeger recalled the Talladega students responded: “Why, we know this song! [. . .] It’s ‘Come by Here, Lord, Come by Here!’” [17]

The first question that arises is what would have prompted the visiting students to publically argue with Eisenberg.  They knew they were guests in a community that was hostile to the aspirations of African Americans.

One possibility is that they already were angry that white rock-a-billy performers, like Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis, [18] were making money by copying recordings made by Black artists.  They probably knew Presley had appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show on 26 October 1956 [19] singing “Hound Dog.” [20]  Some, at least, may have been known his recording was a cover of one released by an African-American blues singer, Big Mama Thornton, in 1953. [21]  This would have made them especially sensitive to hearing one of their religious songs being characterized by a white man as “African.”

Seeger altered the text slightly and began singing “Kumbaya” in his concerts. [22]  In October 1957, he told members of the University of Chicago’s Folklore Society:

“There was a missionary who came back from East Africa, Angola. [23]  And taught this song to us and a lot of people started singing it around the country.  Introducing it as an African spiritual.  Lo and behold someone was singing it down in North Carolina and people there said we know this song, it’s ‘Come by Here’.” [24]

In late December Seeger performed “Kumbaya” at a concert in Carnegie Hall.  When Folkways released a recording in early 1958, Seeger had added details in the liner notes that imagined the song in Africa:

“A missionary returned from Angola, East Africa several years ago with this song.  He had no translation for the title.  ‘It’s just a spiritual sung by people around the mission’.” [25]

Seeger, or his representative, had done the research needed to prevent a copyright dispute.  He noted:

“The song was published in one of the small camp songbooks put out by that remarkable man, Lynn Rohrbough, who in an Ohio barn prints millions of songbooks and recreation handbooks for churches, Y’s, and camps throughout the world.” [26]

Seeger was struck by there being two descriptions of the song’s origins and assumed both were true.  He then tried to explain how that could be.  In October, he speculated:

“I’m not sure how it got to Africa.  But just yesterday I was reading a book.  [. . .]  He worked at the mission.  Name was Cole.  Reverend Sam Cole.  Maybe he was the one who taught them the song.” [27]

This was repeated with more precision in the liner notes:

“How it got to Africa in the first place no one knows for sure.  Perhaps it was the Rev. Sam Cole, whose autobiography was published in 1957.  [. . .]  Perhaps he took the song there.” [28]

Samuel B. Coles was an African American who had worked in Angola as a missionary for the Congregational Church from 1923 to 1953, with breaks in the United States for sabbaticals and World War II. [29]  He died in March 1957 and was buried on Long Island. [30]  His autobiography was published posthumously. [31]  The NAACP’s The Crisis published a review in its October issue, [32] just before Seeger’s appearance. [33]

Seeger’s tale of two missionaries — the one who took it to Africa and the one who brought it back — entered tradition along with “Kumbaya.”

Notes on Audience
Davidson College published profiles of its graduates for their fiftieth reunion.  Most of the white men had followed the professions for which small, liberal arts colleges were known: law, medicine, the ministry, and business.  They were asked what they most remembered from their college years.  The answers were what one would expect: friends, fraternities, dances, and sports.  A number had been in the male chorus.

No one mentioned this event.  Pete Seeger was not well known, unless one followed the activities of the House Un-American Activities Committee.  It had condemned Seeger in 1955 as a Communist and demanded he testify.  The committee did not formally charge him with contempt until March 1957. [34]

However, three men remembered a performance by Louis Armstrong.  That was the concert mentioned most often by the alumni. [35]

Notes on Performers
Eisenberg is profiled in the post for 9 February 2020, and mentioned in the ones for 1 November 2020, 4 November 2020, 3 October 2021, and 13 March 2022.  His photograph appears of the Photo_K tab.

Seeger and his family are discussed in the posts for 11 August 2019, 18 August 2019, and 6 October 2019.

While Seeger remembered meeting Eisenberg at Davidson, Eisenberg recalled they had met during the summer of 1957 at the Idyllwild Arts Foundation in California. [36]  They later collaborated on a Folkways recording of playparties. [37]  He said he “made 50 whole dollars from that.” [38]
 
End Notes
1.  Larry Eisenberg, Brentwood, Tennessee.  Letter to Lynn, 29 January 1957.  Copy courtesy of Bruce Greene and World Around Songs.  ACA was the American Camping Association.  Today, the American Camp Association holds its national conferences in different cities in February.

2.  Larry Eisenberg.  “It’s Me, O Lord.”  Tulsa, Oklahoma: Fun Books, 1992.  51.
3.  Eisenberg, It’s Me.  54, 62.

4.  Eisenberg and his wife, the former Helen Park, published The Family Fun Book in 1953, How To Help Folks Have Fun in 1954, How To Lead Group Singing in 1955, and The Omnibus of Fun in 1956.  All were issued by the YMCA’s Association Press in New York City.  Eisenberg recalled: “Eventually I finished eight books for Association before they went out of the book publishing business.” [39]

5.  Eisenberg, It’s Me.  62.  Scarritt College is mentioned in the post for 16 May 2021.

6.  Eisenberg, It’s Me.  63.  While he was at Chihowie, in Smyth County, he led a charismatic revival that involved faith healing. [40]  Some of the events are described by Brad Scott.  “A Sketch of the History of Charismatic Influence in 20th Century Holston Methodism.”  The United Methodist Church, Holston, Virginia, Conference Historical Society website, 5 October 2017.

7.  Talladega was supported by the American Missionary Association, [41] which was closely associated with the Congregational Church. [42]  Davidson was established in 1837 by The Concord Presbytery of North Carolina. [43]  The two reformed denominations had maintained close ties since Jonathan Edwards brokered a Plan of Union in 1801 that allowed the two churches to combine flocks on the Ohio frontier and use whichever clergymen were present. [44]

8.  I read a memoir on the internet that I didn’t save and haven’t been able to relocate by a Talladega student who described these exchanges.  One of her comments was that the African Americans were far more interested in attending these meetings than were white students.

9.  “Brown v. Board: Timeline of School Integration in the U.S.”  Learning for Justice Magazine, #25, Spring 2004, posted on its website.

10.  “Davidson, North Carolina.”  Wikipedia website.
11.  “Town History Timeline.”  Davidson, North Carolina, town website.

12.  Rick von Unwerth.  “Five Local Businesses ‘Won’t Serve Them’.”  Davidsonian, Davidson College, 3 March 1961.  Reprinted by Caitlin Christian Lamb.  “‘Thereby Hangs a Tale’: The Winding Path to Integration at Davidson.”  Her website, 10 February 2016.

13.  Eisenberg, Letter.

14.  P. Seeger.  “Notes on Background of Songs.”  Pete Seeger and Sonny Terry.  Folkways Records FA2412.  Recorded 27 December 1957, released 1958.

15.  Eisenberg probably did not attend the Student Volunteer Movement meeting and certainly would not have been at the Methodist Church’s national conference in Minneapolis.  This first is discussed in the post for 31 July 2022.  The second is described in the post for 9 October 2022.

16.  Seeger, 1958.
17.  Seeger, 1958.

18.  Jerry Lee Lewis recorded “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” in February 1957 [45] and appeared on The Steve Allen Show on 28 July 1957. [46]  It had been recorded on 21 March 1955 by Big Maybelle [47] for Okeh Records. [48]

19.  “Hound Dog (Song).”  Wikipedia website.

20.  Elvis Presley.  “Hound Dog.”  RCA Victor 47-6605.  Recorded in New York City on 2 July 1956; released 13 July 13 1956.

21.  Big Mama Thornton.  “Hound Dog.”  Peacock Records 1612.  Recorded in Los Angeles on 13 August 952; released March 1953.

22.  Seeger’s version is discussed in the post for 6 October 2019.

23.  Technically, Angola is on the western coast of central Africa.  One can only call it East Africa, if one assumes west Africa is the section between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic and therefore, everything else is east.  Most divide that part of the continent into north, central, and southern sections, and reserve the word “east” for the countries bordering on the Indian Ocean.

24.  Pete Seeger.  “Kumbaya.”  Pete Seeger Live ’57.  Goldenland Records MP3, 2013.  Thomas Stern identified this as a tape from a performance for the Folklore Society of the University of Chicago, 13 October 1957. [49]

25.  Seeger, 1958.

26.  Seeger, 1958.  Once he learned CRS had published the song, he or his representative would have contacted Rohrbough for permission to make the recording.  This sentence sounds like the kind of promotional materials the company might have sent him.  The linear notes say “courtesy of Coop. Recreation Serv.”

27.  Seeger, 1957.
28.  Seeger, 1957.

29.  My article on the origin tales associated with “Kumbaya” [50] discusses Coles and other Black missionaries who served in Angola: Susan Collins, Martha Drummer, and Bessie Fonvielle McDowell.  The first two were at the Methodist mission in Angola where Melvin Blake later served. [51]  The last was the wife of Coles’ mission’s founder.

30.  Marvin & Samme Templin.  “Samuel Bracy Coles.”  Find a Grave website, 29 December 2011.

31.  Samuel B. Coles.  Preacher with a Plow.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1957.

32.  J. W. I.  Review of Preacher with a Plow.  The Crisis 512:October 1957.  James W. Ivy edited the magazine. [52]

33.  It is remotely possible Coles was at the Davidson meeting.  His daughter’s husband was from Alamance County, North Carolina, [53] and they were living in Durham when they died years later. [54]  In 1970, the couple was reported to be in Liberia. [55]  If they were in North Carolina in 1957 and he was visiting them, Coles might have gone to Davidson.  He had graduated from Talladega.

34.  For more on the accusation against Pete Seeger, see the post for 18 August 2019.

35.  Quips and Cranks 50th Reunion Edition, Class of 1956, edited by Hollis F. Cobb.  Davidson, North Carolina: Davidson College, 2006.

36.  Idyllwild is mentioned in the post for 8 July 2018.

37.  Pete Seeger, Mika Seeger, and Rev. Larry Eisenberg.  American Playparties.  Folkways Records FC 7604.  Released 1959.  Mika, Seeger’s daughter, would have been eleven years old when the record was released.  Most of the songs had been published by Rohrbough.

38.  Eisenberg.  63.
39.  Eisenberg, It’s Me.  62.
40.  Eisenberg, It’s Me.  9-13.
41.  “Talladega College.”  Wikipedia website.
42.  “American Missionary Association.”  Wikipedia website.
43.  “Davidson College.”  Wikipedia website.

44.  Sydney E. Ahlstrom.  A Religious History of the American People.  New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1972.  456.

45.  “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.”  Wikipedia website.
46.  “Jerry Lee Lewis.”  Wikipedia website.
47.  Wikipedia, Shakin’.

48.  Big Maybelle.  “Whole Lot of Shakin’ Goin’ On.”  Okeh 4-7060.  Released September 1955.  Quincy Jones was the director.  [Discogs website entry]

49.  Thomas Stern.  Reply to query “Pete Seeger Live ’57.”  Mudcat Café website, 2 May 2016.

50.  Patricia Averill with John Blocher, Jr.  “‘Kumbaya’ and Dramatizations of an Etiological Legend.”  Voices 46:26–32:Spring–Summer 2020.  A copy of the final draft is available on the Academia.edu website.

51.  Blake’s time in Angola is discussed in the post for 7 March 2021.
52.  “The Crisis.”  Wikipedia website.
53.  RTerry.  “William Allen Hill.”  Find a Grave website, 17 November 2011.
54.  RTerry.   “Laura Coles Hill.”  Find a Grave website, 11 April 2012.

55.  RTerry, William Allen Hill.  “Mr. Hill had a long and distinguished public service career as an educator at the collegiate and public school levels.  His education career included work in the United States and Liberia, West Africa.”  The name was too common to find references online that identified him more.